UNION MINISTER of State for Agriculture and Consumer Affairs, Dr Akhilesh Prasad Singh, indicated that the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) would join hands with the BSP in the upcoming Assembly elections in UP.
“The RJD leadership was engaged in forging an electoral alliance with the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) for giving a befitting reply to the SP in these Assembly polls,” Singh said.
Talking to the mediapersons here on Monday, the minister Dr Singh made it clear that RJD was ready to accept Lok Janshakti Party (LJP) of Ram Vilas Paswan if he offers to merge with the RJD.
Commenting over the recent incident of tussle between leaders of RJD and JD (U)-Sadhu Yadav and Prabhu Nath Singh in the Parliament, he said the incident was unfortunate and it should not be repeated further.
Speaking over the agricultural scenario of country, he said the Union government has increased the support price of wheat from Rs 600 to 650 for the welfare of farmers. Besides, the government would increase the quota of foodgrains from 50,000 to one lakh tonnes for the consumers above poverty line in the wake of festivals of Diwali and Dussehra.
In response to a query over the deaths of poor caused by hunger in UP, the minister refused it by saying he was not aware of it but the Union government would seek clarification from the UP government in this connection.
{{/usCountry}}In response to a query over the deaths of poor caused by hunger in UP, the minister refused it by saying he was not aware of it but the Union government would seek clarification from the UP government in this connection.
{{/usCountry}}Speaking over the slow pace of national wheat procurement in the country, he said, the government had procured 90 lakhs tonnes of wheat against the target of 160 lakh tonnes till March 2006.
The role of UP and MP was very poor in the procurement. States like Haryana and Punjab also did not play a satisfactory role, so the government had to import wheat to compensate the decline in procurement’s target.